The Four-Legged Zoo

The Four-Legged Zoo is a song part of Multiplication Rock!. It goes over multiplying by fours. It features a class going to the zoo on a field trip, and they use the legs of the animals to multiply by four. The music and lyrics are both by Bob Dorough. He also performs it with a chorus of kids. The original aridate was January 27, 1973

Lions and tigers, cats and dogs; a goat and a cow and a couple of hogs

Girl: A rhinocerous and of course a hippopotamus... oh yes, a horse!

Both:There are elk and bison, a gnu or two; giraffes and elephants quite a few

Girl:A llama, alpaca, vicuna too; zebras, ibexes, and one big kudu; it was a letter L

Boy #1: I liked the gazelle.

Boy #2: And Miss Simpson Says...

Girl: She teaches school, you know.

Boy #2: Yeah, she took us there. Well, Miss Simpson said if we counted every head on these quadrupeds, then multiplied that number by four, we'd know how many feet went through the door if we turned them all loose.

Both: Oh no, don't do that!

Boy #2: It's really a groovy zoo.

Both: But anyway what Miss Simpson said it was a good chance to work on our fours in our head. One, two, three, four!

Woman:I'll take a lion

Both:One times four

Man:He's got four legs and maybe a roar

Both:Give me two camels, that's two times four; eight legs walking across the desert floor!

Woman:A tiger and a lamb and a fat kudu...

(with chorus)...would by three times four, equals twelve legs too

Woman:But we might have to subtract when that tiger was through...

Man:Four four-footed friends, no matter who would have 16 legs, and it's always true

Children:Four times four is sixteen; five times four is twenty

Man: Now a coach and six, if you were Cinderella would have you home by midnight if those 24 legs ran fast as lightning.

Children: Six times four equals 24 and seven times four equals 28

Man: Anyone knows that, who cares about seven

Children:And eight antelope have 32 legs because eight times four is 32

Man:Here come a small herd of buffalo; they say they're getting extinct, you know

Children:I can count nine, that's nine times four; nine times four is 36. Here comes a baby buffalo

Man: That's good, that's ten! And ten times four, you know, is 40...

Eleven coyotes...

Children:Eleven times four

Man:...went sneaking across the prairie floor. On all of their legs...

Children:...equals 44.

Man:Now twelve times four is as high as we go

'Children:Twelve times four is 48

Man:But there were so very, very, many, many more animals standing there by the gate...

(with children) ...but we'd have to use a pencil if we counted them all And we really had fun and we saw every one

Boy: A bear, a cougar, a jackal, a yak, a fox...

Children: (singing) ...some deer, and a sweet giraffe

Man:And I can't remember how many, many more

(with children) ...but we multiplied them all by four and some of them thanked us with a roar

The dog from this song plays an important role in one of the games. In his game, the player must move him around to coral animals into specific pens based on their numbers. After 3 rounds, the dog will join Lucky Seven Sampson's band as the singer.